Broadcaster and former NBA player Steve Kerr works the game between the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2014 NBA Playoffs at the United Center on April 29, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois.

Photo: Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images

Broadcaster and former NBA player Steve Kerr works the game between...

Image 2 of 3

Stan Van Gundy

Photo: John Raoux, Associated Press

Stan Van Gundy

Image 3 of 3

Connecticut head coach Kevin Ollie and former professional basketball player Steve Kerr talk during Connecticut's practice for their NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game Friday, April 4, 2014, in Dallas. Connecticut plays Florida on Saturday, April 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The Warriors have started a methodical and calculated plan to identify their next head coach, a process that owner Joe Lacob says could take anywhere from one day to two months.

The team has contacted top candidates Steve Kerr and Stan Van Gundy in hopes of setting up two of as many as a dozen potential interviews to pinpoint a replacement for Mark Jackson, who was fired Tuesday.

"We're going to take our time in this process," Lacob said. "We're going to interview a number of people. We have a very good idea of what we're interested in. But, to be sure and to do the appropriate job in looking for a coach, we will interview multiple people and make sure we're doing the right thing."

The Warriors are expected to contact the Chicago Bulls to explore the availability of their head coach, defensive whiz Tom Thibodeau, who was an assistant in Boston when Lacob was a minority owner of the 2008 champion Celtics.

Kerr - a five-time NBA championship player, former Phoenix Suns general manager and current TNT analyst - has the leadership skills and the basketball mind that could allow him to choose the destination of his first head-coaching assignment from among the Warriors, Knicks, Lakers and Jazz.

He has been in negotiations for weeks with New York President Phil Jackson, his coach in Chicago for five years and a longtime confidant, but the Warriors' job might be more attractive for other reasons.

Kerr, who has known Lacob for decades, is from California, lives in San Diego and has a daughter at Cal. In addition, the Warriors offer a more talented and cohesive roster than the Knicks. But a decision might have to be made sooner than Golden State officials desire because Kerr is being sought by other teams.

The Warriors would also like to talk with Van Gundy, among a bushel of other candidates, something they made clear while contacting him to gauge his interest Wednesday.

Van Gundy took the Heat to the conference finals in 2005 but was replaced by general manager Pat Riley after an 11-10 start the next season, when the team won its first title. He took the Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009, but was let go three years later after consecutive first-round exits and the development of a fractious relationship with temperamental franchise centerpiece Dwight Howard.

Van Gundy has already turned down overtures from Minnesota and Los Angeles, but his ties to the Bay Area and his philosophical match with the Warriors could coax him out of a comfortable broadcasting gig.

He was born in Indio (Riverside County) and attended Alhambra High in Martinez. He was successful in Orlando with a roster that included good three-point shooters and a rim-protecting defensive anchor - a formula similar to the Warriors' roster.

"I said several times during my coaching career, when we would go play out there, that it was always important to me playing out there because I grew up there," Van Gundy told a Florida radio station. "That arena is old, so it was the same arena when I was a sophomore in high school. The Warriors won the NBA championship in 1975 led by Rick Barry. Al Attles was their coach. I was a huge fan, and everybody knows that."

If the Warriors are to land Kerr or Van Gundy, the hiring process will probably have to be sped up. But Lacob reiterated his desire to take his time, knowing full well that the next coach will be saddled with lofty expectations.

"For the next coach that comes in, the expectations will probably - forget from us, but from everybody - be high," Lacob said. "That's life. It's going to take someone who is obviously capable of handling that. Assuming we put together the right roster and give him the right players, that person should be able to succeed. I think someone who comes in and is scared of that probably isn't the right person for the job."